A new JLL patient survey explores the balance between convenience, cost, and experience

Patient satisfaction is the barometer by which health systems are measured and measure themselves. A new survey of healthcare consumers nationwide reaffirms that convenience, both physical and virtual, remains a key factor in patients’ choice of service provider.

JLL, in collaboration with the market research firm Big Village, conducted the survey from June 18 through 26. Respondents numbered 4,061, of whom 51% were female.

From their answers, JLL surmised four key insights:

•Access, coverage, and affordability are persistent challenges for U.S. healthcare;

•Location and convenience are keys to choosing a provider and care experience;

•Technology supports improved patient experience; and

•First impressions matter to patients when choosing a provider or evaluating their care experience.

Financial uncertainties

JLL anticipates that cuts in government-funded healthcare and marketplace insurance subsidies will increase the uninsured population, putting a financial strain on health systems. Sixteen percent of the survey’s respondents said they didn’t not receive healthcare last year because they couldn’t afford it. That percentage rises to 67% percent among consumers who don’t have health insurance.

Over half of the Medicaid recipients in the survey are afraid they are going to lose their coverage due to government cutbacks, a concern among all consumers polled.

Travel distance is also a factor in choosing providers, especially for consumers living in rural communities. That might explain why consumers in general are availing themselves more readily to telehealth options, although the survey found that there are limits to how effectively telehealth interaction resolves patients’ care issues compared to in-person visits with providers.

JLL recommends that health systems, more than ever, need to evaluate their portfolios strategically by balancing access to care with cost, and by using demographic analysis to expand their higher-margin services.

Proximity part of the satisfaction equation

From the first quarter of 2023 through the second quarter of 2025, completed hospital space in the U.S. increased by 32%, according to Revista data. This expansion accentuates how health systems are trying to get closer to where their customers live. After “accept my insurance,” location and proximity ranked second in factors determining consumer choice. For urgent care specifically, the percentage of patients choosing location/proximity as a top five factor was only 2% lower than “accepts my insurance,” and for emergency care it was 5% lower (vs. 15-20% for most other care types). From 2023 to 2025, survey participants who received urgent care in the last year rose by 2.4 percentage points to 27%, and 83% of those respondents explained that convenient location was the primary reason.

JLL concluded that convenience and ease of navigation have strong correlations with a positive patient experience. “Those that rated their provider as a 9 or 10 on the question ‘how likely is it that you would recommend this provider to a friend or colleague’ ranked the provider much more highly on factors of convenience, finding parking and the length of the walk from a parking lot into the providers’ office,” JLL stated.

Consequently, JLL recommended improving wayfinding and parking, and for health systems to consider the patient journey through referral-based analytics and by using technology to facilitate same-day same-building care.

Tech is a useful tool

Technology is increasingly involved in the patient care experience, from a reminder to confirm your appointment to a patient portal to communicate lab results after you receive care. Only 9% of patients surveyed reported not using any technology in their care experience. Two-thirds of patients experienced some type of technology for check-in.

Technology is most prevalent for patients making appointments and retrieving documents and communications. But wayfinding technology still isn’t used widely; only 14% of respondents said they’ve experienced it, a percentage that rises somewhat for inpatient and emergency care. And while telehealth is a key tech tool for healthcare, its usage hasn’t increased significantly from 2023. 

This is important to know because more than half of patients polled said their provider choices are influenced by their access to provider technology. To continue to improve care, JLL recommends that providers evaluate and implement technology to make appointment scheduling and check-in easier; to examine the costs and benefits of wayfinding tech; and to further optimize their use of telehealth.

Realizing quality perceptions

Patient care is often a matter of perceived quality. That’s especially true for inpatient care and surgery, and emergency care, said the survey’s respondents.

Those perceptions can encompass everything from the wait time to receive the care service to the cleanliness of the office or exam space. And perceptions can get tainted if the patient has a hard time finding the venue or its parking.

The survey found that patients had the most favorable opinions of standalone provider offices—often facilities used for primary and preventive care. Emergency rooms ranked the lowest in terms of favorability, especially in waiting room and exam room comfort. Patients receiving urgent care had a significantly less favorable impression of the exam room than the waiting room, while in other facilities the exam room was typically rated as more comfortable.

To improve the patient experience, JLL recommends that health systems assume a hospitality mindset, starting with examining what the patient sees when he or she enters the building. JLL also suggests that providers focus on maintenance over newness, and consider ways to heighten comfort levels in waiting spaces for emergency rooms and surgeries. Technology can help improve the quality of the waiting experience, too, with something as rudimentary as examining the quality of the building’s WiFi.